Unspun Gold
by xGraybackx
Summary: Neji and Tenten enjoy a sunset together. [Oneshot Collection] [Tenten Centered, Multiple Tenten Pairings]
1. Unspun Gold

_Clouds will scatter in the sky and the sun quietly sets._

Tenten gazed at the sunset, watching it slowly sink below the horizon in a brilliant flourish of pink, orange, and red. She smiled down at Neji, who was resting his head on her lap, eyes closed. "We haven't done this in a while."

A grunt was the only response so she pinched his arm to show her annoyance. One pallid eye opened to glare up at her and he replied haggardly, "Shut up. I'm sleeping."

Tenten smirked back, "Oh, please. I know you can stay awake at least for a few more hours. I never knew you to be so lazy."

Neji snorted and turned away, the effect ruined with his head still on her lap. She grinned, lightly tracing his curse seal marks with the tips of her fingers. At first, Neji had found it peculiar that his markings intrigued her so, but after a few strange looks, quirks of a brow, and a poorly suppressed roll of the eyes, he gave up gracefully and didn't hinder her when she wanted to touch him. Since Neji had first had her as his genin teammate, he'd changed, grown. Though Neji, by nature, was still fairly aloof, he'd developed a gentler side that unless you knew him, would stun you to stupefied silence. It was this side now that allowed her to turn his head back toward her, so that he gazed at her sedately while she traced the cross on his forehead, the deep green color seemingly black in the dying rays of the sun.

"There's something on your mind."

She smiled softly, "I'm just happy to be free to share this moment with you."

He caught her hand in his, the sparkle of warmth in his eyes something he reserved only for a select few. "Me too."


	2. Tea

"You _really _didn't have to," Tenten said pointedly, pouring them both a bit more tea.

"Tenten!" Lee burst in, loudly as ever. Normally his overenthusiastic greeting would have hit her, but theoretically in deference to his condition he chose to barrel Neji over in his hug. Though she normally would resent any special treatment because of her colds, she was willing to make this an exception. Besides, she had always more-than-a-little-bit suspected that Lee much preferred embracing men than women.

"If you would." Lee looked up at her. "You're sitting on the crackers. I have milk for you, if you would pass them over."

"Of course, Tenten."

Crackers set more securely on the table, Tenten removed Lee from all over a fuming Neji by handing him a tea cup of milk.

"Thanks for coming, you guys."


	3. Snow

I really have to start writing longer one-shots...

* * *

Shikamaru would never had known what was waiting for him outside the door -- he really wished he had. Tenten's subtle smirks and fits of giggling did not go unnoticed by the perceptive genius. Not at all. 

She had awoken before him, he knew. He'd been slightly annoyed by it...

Until he'd seen how cheery she was.

And this wasn't her usual cheery. It was some sort of _insane_ cheery.

She'd asked him to go out and get something for her which struck him as odd; she usually liked to get outside and socialize with whomever she could.

Nonetheless, he could not say no to her.

He should have known that something unusual was going to happen to him, something to make him look like an idiot.

But opening the door, the sparkling white mass in front of him hardly registered in his mind before he took a step outside.

Like he'd said -- he should have known. She'd kept the windows shut this morning, when she'd usually have them open, letting in the light and sound of tweaking birds.

He slipped on the ice that had formed outside the door during the night, falling right onto his back. _Naturally_, had he actually been prepared that would _never_ have happened.

Tenten burst into a fit of giggles again. Shikamaru smiled lazily at her in return.

The giggles were replaced with a squeal of protest as he pulled her out with him.


	4. Punch

Looking around her, she could see his family enjoying the party. His cousins were getting increasingly drunk as the evening went on. Some hid it better than others, especially around Hiashi. Tenten didn't have that luck. She'd never been able to hold it together. And tonight she couldn't afford not to.

Not with Neji watching her every move, just waiting to prove her infidelity. But their friends couldn't see any of that. Every time Neji and Tenten laughed glanced at each other, they would smile like it was the most adorable thing in the world.

"Hey."

She looked up at Lee standing beside her. He seemed tired, the exuberance from an hour before washed out into airy melancholy. She noticed him at the punch bowl earlier, and he was fine then. Then it hit her. Taking a gander at what had possibly transpired, she sniffed the air.

"Lee?" she asked him timidly, as if it were a question of guilt. "You're drunk?"

Without missing a beat, "I think so."

Tenten wanted to kiss him. Right here, right in front of her boyfriend, for everybody to see.

She wanted to ram her tounge down his throat, and take his hand and run away with him forever to the ends of the earth until they fell off completely.

Then she wanted to come back and tell Neji he was right, if only to make him tear his hair out.

"I'm going to get some punch."


End file.
